How to Make French Macarons, Seriously

Name: Classic French Macarons
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: PT-486135H1M12S
Total time: 50 min
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 180 grams (1¼ cups + 2 tablespoons) of powdered sugar; 108 grams (1 scant* cup) of finely-ground almond flour (or blanched almonds); 3 fresh egg whites (about 90 to 100 grams); 60 grams (¼ cup) of granulated sugar; Pinch of salt; Gel good coloring, no more than about a quarter of a teaspoon; Raspberry Jam; Strawberry Jam; Fruit curd; Easy Vanilla Buttercream; Chocolate ganache

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A professional but approachable French macaron recipe and the two essential techniques to master. I learned how to make macarons from a chef at Le Cordon Bleu Paris, and the rest is history. A good portion of the most popular so-called advice can actually hinder your success. And If French macarons should be anything, it's delicious. Not complicated.

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Looking down at purple and cream French macarons in a box.

Jump to:

The Story
The Ingredients
Macaron Fillings
The Techniques
Equipment
The Method
FAQs
Edible Epilogue
📖 Recipe
Macaron Flavor Ideas
Sadie Mae's Musings
💬 Reviews

The Story

Macarons are delightfully delicate almond meringue sandwiches hugging silky, sweet buttercreams, fruit curds, or rich ganache. Lightly crisp on the outside, and chewy on the inside, the pastries melt like butter in your mouth. Leave it to the French to perfect such a treat.

Close-up view of an almond macaron bitten into next to a piping bag of filling.

And I'm here to tell you baking French macarons doesn't need to be any more difficult than homemade chocolate chip cookies. All of the fuss about how scary, temperamental and touchy macarons are is a bit silly. I believe the problem is excessive over-thinking (myself included, in the beginning). You simply need the proper know-how.

The Ingredients

On a basic level, four ingredients are what create French macarons:

fresh egg whites
granulated sugar
almond flour
confectioner's (powdered) sugar

Ingredients for macarons in bowls next to beater paddles: bowls of almond flour, powdered sugar, egg whites, granulated sugar and salt.

A pinch of salt is never a bad idea in any sweet recipe. Cream of tartar is not necessary, but many bakers swear by it.

On Flavorings

Macaron shells are fickle friends and don't take well to large amounts of flavorings. Adding liquid-based ingredients can weaken the egg white protein bonds in the meringue. Choosing a gel food color is the best choice because it won't add too much additional liquid. A small amount of instant espresso, cocoa powder, citrus zest, or freeze-dried fruit powder can be added successfully. But I highly recommend refining your techniques before experimenting.

Macaron Fillings

This is truly where the flavor's at in a French macaron. And the opportunities are endless. Macaron fillings don't need to be homemade. Especially if you're a beginner. But to recreate the scrumptious macarons of French pâtisserie fame, whip up fresh fruit curds, jams, custards, ganache, and classic buttercreams from scratch.

Lemon Curd
Fresh Raspberry Jam
Orange-Scented Mascarpone Buttercream
Coffee (Bailey's Irish Cream) Buttercream
Chocolate Ganache

The Techniques

As with the American favorite of chocolate chip cookies, attention to detail in the process can make a tasty difference.

Meringue, or beating fresh egg whites with granulated sugar, is the base for macaron shells. Whipping up a stable meringue that makes firm peaks off the ends of the beater paddles is the most important step.

Meringue coming off a beater paddle with a slight curve.

Macaronage is a word you will see thrown around in macaron articles. Don't be intimidated by the French lingo. It means mixing macaron batter. Full stop. The key is to stop mixing and folding when the batter reaches a thick-but-flowing consistency.

Equipment

Beautiful macarons can be made with simple kitchen tools and supplies. Old-school, decorated French chefs whip meringue with nothing more than a bowl and a whisk. My arm muscles cramp just thinking about it. The good news is that you can buy an electric hand mixer for less than $20. You don't need a digital scale, but if you plan to bake macarons more than once, it makes the measuring quicker, easier, and more precise.

The Method

Before you flip on the mixer, first separate your eggs, saving the yolks for say, custard ice cream. Be very careful not to contaminate the whites with any specs from the yolk. The fat in the yolk can prevent the meringue from whipping as expected. Then line your pans with the parchment paper, and ready your pastry bag.

Place printable templates under the parchment paper. You can also use a dixie cup or similar item with a one-to-two-inch diameter to trace circles on your parchment paper. Place the marked side down, lest you end up with inky macs.

The Steps

1. The Meringue

Give the egg whites and granulated sugar a piece of your mind on high speed for at least five minutes. The meringue answers to you, not the other way around. Meringue is done when it looks like shaving cream. For a firm meringue, the peaks curve off the tip of the beater slightly.

Looking down in a bowl of medium peak meringue.

A small amount of meringue on the end of a beater paddle curving slightly.

2. Macaronage

Sift the almond flour and powdered sugar directly into the bowl with the firm meringue. Then fold gently but firmly. I like to mix the ingredients a bit rough at first to bring them together. If you are adding gel food color, this is a great time to place a little on the end of your spatula.

Then fold gently, scraping around the sides of the bowl and up over the top of the batter. You want a macaron batter that is smooth, shiny, and flowing slowly.

Mesh sieve holding almond flour and powdered sugar over a bowl of meringue.

Shaggy macaron batter with a small amount of purple gel food coloring on the edge of a spatula.

3. Pipe & Tap

Immediately transfer your batter to the pastry bag. To pipe macaron batter, hold the bag vertical and about a quarter of an inch above the pan. Squeeze until you just about reach your desired size or the inside edge of the guides. Immediately stop squeezing and flick away the pastry tip. Plan for the batter to end up all over your sheet tray the first several times. Seriously.

Purple macaron batter in a piping bag that is standing upright in a high ball glass.

If the tops of your piped rounds don't settle flat, gently tap the bottom of the pan. But by all means, don't take out the day's stress on your poor macaron batter.

4. Rest

In full disclosure when I first published this guide circa 2011, I described in detail how resting macarons is overrated. I still think it is to a degree. But I've learned from experience it's also great insurance. Drying out the tops of the shells a little can help them rise evenly when they hit the oven. And maintain a smoother dome shape.

Circles of purple piped macaron batter on unbleached parchment paper.

However, I often toss a full pan of macarons straight into the oven and succeed. It's a matter of degrees, pun intended. Please don't believe any baker who pretends they don't get an ugly mac with almost every batch. You'll likely always get one (or a few) that don't turn out picture-perfect, especially with a home oven. And these my macaron-loving friends are for quality control.

5. Bake

Bake the macarons around 300 F until the tops are dull and the batter is set. An easy way to check is to gently nudge the top of a couple of macarons with your finger. If the tops don't shift away from the bottoms, they are done. You can also try to lift a corner of the parchment or baking mat and check the bottoms. If you can't peel one of the end shells away without it sticking, bake a few minutes longer.

Remove the baked macarons from the oven, and cool for a few minutes on the pan. As soon as you can handle the shells, gently peel them off by pressing up from underneath the parchment or baking mat.

A small batch of nine baked purple French macarons on parchment paper.

FAQs

How do you make macarons less sweet?

Quite simply, add less sugar! While many recipes call for a 2:1 ratio of granulated sugar to egg whites for the meringue, you don't need that much. The bare minimum for success is half the weight of the egg whites in sugar. For two egg whites, this is about 30 grams of sugar. Which is about two tablespoons.

Is it cheaper to make macarons at home?

Yes! Since macarons require skill for repeated success, this cost of labor is built into the price tag. Most of the ingredients for macarons are inexpensive, outside the almond flour and any premium filling ingredients. If you already have a decent collection set of baking tools, whipping up macarons at home is less expensive than buying them.

Edible Epilogue

In the spirit of full disclosure, even when you follow all five steps below exactly, your collective batch of macarons might not emerge from the oven as you hoped. There are so many factors that affect results. Undetected air bubbles. Or a hidden clump of almond flour. An oven that hemorrhages heat at even a slight crack of the door.

What not to do is to get upset about it, and throw ugly but perfectly edible macarons in the trash (do as I say, not as I do). Do you think all those Instagrammers would post photos of not-so-perfect but still delicious macarons? Non. They won't.

A box filled with macarons and three purple macarons on a mini cake plate, set on lace linen with a dish of almond flour and piping bags resting next to them with fillings.

So if you decide to try your hand at Parisian macarons, harness patience, and perspective. Whatever you do, don't be discouraged if your first batches don't bake up perfectly. Because regardless of appearance, they will all taste wonderfully light and deliciously sweet. Seriously.

📖 Recipe

Assorted macarons in a box on top of a lace linen with fillings and macaron shells scattered around.

Classic French Macarons

5 from 2 reviews

Print Recipe

If you are making your own almond flour, measure the almonds by weight, and grind them with the powdered sugar in a food processor. Stop grinding to redistribute the mixture a couple of times. Aim for a texture like fine sand.

Total Time: 50 minutes
Yield: 20-22 Macarons 1x

Ingredients

Scale

For Macaron Shells

180 grams (1¼ cups + 2 tablespoons) of powdered sugar
108 grams (1 scant* cup) of finely-ground almond flour (or blanched almonds)
3 fresh egg whites (about 90 to 100 grams)
60 grams (¼ cup) of granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
Gel good coloring, no more than about a quarter of a teaspoon

*slightly less than one cup

Filling Ideas

For a beginner, filling macarons with a store-bought jam or buttercream can speed up and simplify the process. But here are a few recipes for scratch-made macaron fillings:

To make a quick chocolate ganache, measure equal amounts by weight of chocolate chips or chopped chocolate and heavy cream. Bring the cream just to a boil in a small pot. Then immediately pour it over the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl. Let it sit for five minutes, then whisk until smooth. Cool ganache to room temperature before piping don't macaron shells.

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Instructions

Whip the meringue. Whip the egg whites and granulated sugar on medium-high speed to stiff peaks. Meringue is done when it looks like shaving cream, and the peaks coming off the mixer paddle curve slightly, almost sticking straight up.
Macaronage: Sift the almond flour, salt, and powdered sugar directly into the bowl with the meringue. Discard any large pieces remaining in the sifter or sieve. I like to mix the ingredients a bit rough at first to bring them together. Then fold gently, scraping around the sides of the bowl and up over the top of the batter. You want a macaron batter that is smooth, shiny, and ribbons off the spatula. Any batter drizzled off the spatula should settle back into the collective mass in ten or twenty seconds (a long moment).
Pipe the batter. Immediately transfer your batter to the pastry bag. To pipe macaron batter, hold the bag vertically and about a quarter of an inch above the pan. Squeeze until you just about reach your desired size or the inside edge of the guides. Immediately stop squeezing and flick away the pastry tip in a circular motion.
Rest the batter. Drying out the tops of the shells a little can help them rise evenly when they hit the oven. And maintain a smoother dome shape. Let the pans sit on the counter for 10 to 20 minutes before baking.
Bake: Bake the macarons at 290-300 F until the tops are dull and the batter is set, between 14 to 18 minutes. An easy way to check is to gently nudge the top of a couple of macarons with your finger. If the tops don't shift away from the bottoms, they are done. You can also lift a corner of the parchment or baking mat and check the bottoms. If the shell sticks, bake a few minutes longer. Remove the baked macarons from the oven, and cool for a few minutes on the pan. As soon as you can handle the shells, gently peel them off by pressing up from underneath the parchment or baking mat.

Fill & Serve

Match your baked shells into like-sized pairs. Any odd macarons are for the baker.
To pipe your filling, transfer it to a piping bag or plastic baggie and snip a tiny hole at the corner. Leave space between the edge of the shell and the filling. This is the classical, professional standard. Macaron fillings should not be right up to the edge of the shells. The mound of filling should not be as high as the shells. Otherwise, the fillings will ooze out when you take a bite.
Store finished macarons in the refrigerator. But always serve at room temperature. Unfilled shells can be packed carefully and frozen.

Notes

On food coloring... On principle, macarons are literally the only treat I use artificial food coloring in. And in recent years I've come to use much less. I've experimented with food-based colors for macarons and they either lose tint in the oven or require an amount that over-liquifies the batter. Outside sourcing a commercial plant-based (and expensive) coloring, I recommend small amounts of artificial gel coloring or leaving your macs au natural.

Author: Chef Christina
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: About 14 minutes
Category: Macarons
Method: Baking
Cuisine: French
Diet: Gluten Free

Nutrition

Serving Size: 2 Unfilled Macaron Shells
Calories: 73
Sugar: 10.9 g
Sodium: 7.7 mg
Fat: 0.9 g
Trans Fat:
Carbohydrates: 11.8 g
Fiber: 0.2 g
Protein: 1.2 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg

Keywords: French macarons, macaron troubleshooting, how to make macarons, easy macaron recipe

Macaron Flavor Ideas

Sadie Mae's Musings

A sentimental tribute to our first child. She was an Instadogs before Instagram existed. Photobombing my best shots to the best of her ability. Eventually the novelty of the baking madness wore her out. May God rest her sweet soul.